SB 761

Under this bill, the state superintendent of public instruction may adopt model

academic standards related to climate change. If the state superintendent adopts

model standards, they must incorporate a) an understanding of climate, b) the

interconnected nature of climate change, c) the potential local and global impacts of

climate change, and d) the individual and societal actions that may mitigate the

harmful effects of climate change. The bill also allows the state superintendent to

provide grants to or contract with other state agencies or nonprofit organizations to

develop climate change curriculum resources and requires that, if the state

superintendent adopts climate change model academic standards, the resources

must align with those standards.

The bill also provides additional funding for the University of Wisconsin

System under its general program operations appropriation and for special

education aid for school districts, independent charter schools, cooperative

educational service agencies, and county children with disabilities education boards

for purposes of maintaining compliance with maintenance of effort requirements of

the federal Consolidated Appropriations Act and the federal American Rescue Plan

Act.